


everyone cries at the end of old yeller

by Olsies



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Crying Derek, Cuddling & Snuggling, Discussion of Animal Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, writing meme prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:04:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2956844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olsies/pseuds/Olsies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek watches "Old Yeller" because he forgot how it ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	everyone cries at the end of old yeller

Since the fire, Derek hadn’t cry. Not once. Not ever. And he certainly wasn't crying now. And he certainly _wasn’t_ crying over a kid’s movie. He wasn’t. He _wasn’t_.

Derek took a shaky breath, his hand covering his face. The actors on the screen talked about life and death and Derek willed himself to move or turn it off or something. But he couldn’t. So he didn’t.

The door behind him opened, startling him; he slammed the laptop closed, wiping his face, trying to breathe normally. Stiles and Scott came to the couch, arguing about something and not paying attention to Derek.

"Can I borrow your computer?" Stiles asked, not looking at him as he took the laptop from his hand. "We need to settle something…" Scott studied Derek.

"You ok, man?" He asked as the computer started up and, a young voice screamed, "You can’t beat my dog!" Derek didn’t know what to do. Stiles laughed a little.

"Can’t watch this without crying," he said pausing it and opening a new screen.

"What is it?" Scott asked, slowly sitting on the couch next to Derek.

“ _Old Yeller_ ,” Stiles said. ”You never watched it?” Scott shook his head.

"It was your favorite movie when we met," Scott said still looking at Derek who was still sitting with a hand over his eyes. "Of course I’ve seen it..." He paused. "Derek," Scott said softly. Stiles looked up finally and slid off the edge of the couch to the floor.

"Hey," Stiles whispered putting his hand on Derek’s leg. "Hey, big guy. What’s going on?" Derek opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. There was a knot in his throat and his stomach was rolling. He thought he might be sick.

"I’m gonna get you some water," Scott said getting up. Stiles rubbed Derek’s leg gently, watching him. Scott came back with some Kleenex and ice water. "Here," he said putting the cup in Derek’s free hand. "This should help…" Derek choked a little, wiped his face one last time, and took the cup. He only managed a little, but the other two murmured soft words of encouragement. They waited.

"Haven’t seen that since I was a kid," Derek said finally. "I couldn’t— I didn’t— I just remembered that bright yellow dog. And I just—" He sniffled, brushing more tears away.

"My dad can’t watch this without crying. He banned it when I was like seven and he found me and Scott for the umpteenth time sobbing on the couch because we couldn’t understand why Travis could just shoot Yeller like that…"

"I remember that," Scott laughed gently.

"How is that a kid’s movie?" Derek asked, leaning forward in his face in his hands, rubbing his forehead. Stiles and Scott laughed a little.

"Let’s find a unicorn chaser," Stiles said getting up and searching through the stacks of movies until he found the perfect one. Scott got up and pulled out some blankets from the hallow foot rest. He pulled some of the pillows off the couch so it would be deep enough to cradle all three of them.

"What did you pick?" Scott asked as Stiles pulled off his sweater and shoes on the way back to the couch.

"You’ll see…" Stiles sing-songed as Scott pulled off his own shoes. Derek sat there numbly, leaving the others to tug him into position between them—Scott behind Derek and Stiles in front of him. Stiles snuggled close and pulled Derek’s arms around him, DVD remote in his hand as Scott wrapped his arms over Derek’s broad chest, kissing the back of his neck. Derek groaned as the screen for _The Little Mermaid_ came on.

"Really?" Scott asked, laughing. Stiles just cackled as he hit play.

"You know you love this one," Stiles said. They watched in silence except for Stiles who sang every musical number. Scott thought Derek was asleep as the credits rolled, but Derek surprised him by rolling over and shoving his face into Scott’s side awkwardly.

"It’s ok," Scott whispered as Stiles changed the DVD out. "I’ve got you…" Derek said nothing as he sobbed into his boyfriend’s side. He felt like a wall had been broken and he might never be whole again. Stiles dropped the DVD in his hand and the remote as he curled up behind Derek, and rubbing his back. "We’ve got you…" Scott whispered.

"Let it out, Bear," Stiles whispered. "You’re safe."

What Derek couldn’t tell them was that Yeller looked like a dog that his family had owned just before the fire and Derek had no idea if she’d made it out or not. He and Laura had moved so fast, there was no time to look for a dog that was most likely dead. And as he lay between them, he remembered watching the movie as a child, crying and worrying about getting rabies. The movie had been banned at his house, too. And _that’s_ why he couldn’t remember…

He cried until he fell into a deep sleep. He woke up hours later, head heavy from too much crying. He let Stiles and Scott pick out new movies and order him pizza. The rest of the pack trickled in, curling around him, ruffling his hair. They didn’t know _what_ happened, but they knew Derek was upset, and they knew one of the best things for their broody Alpha when he got like this was to be surrounded by his pack.

***

It was three days before Derek could even look at a dog without feeling dizzy, and another month before he could watch one on TV. He swore to never watch another dog movie without researching it first.

**Author's Note:**

> anon [prompted](http://acederekmchaleinski.tumblr.com/post/106542447749/if-youre-still-doing-the-writing-meme-your) me to write this... i changed a few things just for better flow.


End file.
